If there’s one name you can expect to hear more about in the coming years, it is that of Mr Gerald Genta, the late, great watch designer responsible for such icons as the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak and Patek Philippe Nautilus. Anyone already tuned into the watch world may be surprised to hear it, as Genta’s legacy has already been centre stage for the past three or four years. But with IWC Schaffhausen overhauling its Ingenieur in the image of a 1976 Genta design, and the news that LVMH is reviving a high-end line of watches bearing the Gerald Genta name in their own right, his star continues to rise.

Beyond that, you have to consider that several of the show highlights from Bell & Ross, Chopard, A. Lange & Sohne, Oris and Piaget all owe some kind of a debt to the genre Genta almost single-handedly created, not to mention the success of his eponymous brand Gerald Charles, which also just announced a suite of new models. I feel confident saying we haven’t seen “peak Genta” yet.

Given Gerald Genta’s far-reaching influence, it seems appropriate to observe that right now, design and style are leading the conversation, rather than technical innovation and mechanical excellence. That’s not to deny the existence of the latter, but whether you are looking at an Oris ProPilot X with Kermit the Frog on its date window, a beautiful blue ceramic Pilot’s Chronograph at IWC, Montblanc’s glacier-print dial designs or a Rolex Day-Date with an enamelled jigsaw-piece motif across it, the headline is the aesthetic appeal, not the horological achievements.

Even at less overtly flamboyant brands, and away from such unusual limited editions, the message is clear – colour, shape, material and texture are receiving much more attention than ever before. It’s as true at Vacheron Constantin, where green, salmon-pink and vivid blue were all in evidence, as it is at Cartier, where even though you expect it, the emphasis on impact was huge.

The only exception to the above is the resurgence of the chronograph. Everywhere you looked at Watches and Wonders, there were incredible new chronographs. Top of the pile was A. Lange & Sohne’s Odysseus Chronograph in stainless steel, a watch so impressive the brand felt no need to debut anything else.

In its wake came a monopusher chronograph version of the Hermès H08; a revival of Chopard’s handsome hand-wound L.U.C Chronograph; a bezel-controlled chronograph at Montblanc that defies all logic, and the fantastic spectacle of the Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Chronograph, where you flip the case open to find the chrono counters.

Roger Dubuis introduced a mind-bending concept chronograph in the form of the Monovortex Split-Seconds Chronograph, and Grand Seiko broke with tradition in making its first ever fully-mechanical chronograph, the high-frequency Tentagraph. Add to the above the small matter of two little things called the Rolex Daytona and TAG Heuer Carrera, both celebrating their 60th year – yes, it was a big year for chronographs all right.

I’ve been writing about watches for 12 years and every single year has seen the claim that watches are getting smaller. The truth is that some are and some aren’t – there are still substantial timepieces out there, should you want them – but over the course of the past decade, the context of what constitutes “small” has also changed. It used to mean 39mm to 41mm, but this year one of the unexpected hits came in the form of Chopard’s 36.5mm L.U.C 1860.

Cartier’s Tank Normale and Santos-Dumont are still the apples of collectors’ eyes. Tudor revealed a 37mm version of the erstwhile rather chunky Black Bay, to great acclaim. Baume & Mercier launched a smaller version of the Riviera (alongside, it must be said, a bigger, dive-worthy model); Panerai did the same with the 40mm Luminor Due Quaranta, and IWC reduced the diameter of its Pilot’s Chronograph Top Gun models, previously only available at 43mm.

Downsizing also came in the form of sleeker designs with a thinner case height; together with the ubiquitous presence of interchangeable straps, watchmakers seem to be more attuned to the wearer’s comfort than ever before.

In keeping with point number two, there were some outstanding displays of gem-setting and use of semi-precious stones. Unsurprisingly, Piaget and Cartier spring quickest to mind: the former showing a Polo Perpetual Calendar with a chalky, almost denim-like dial in blue obsidian (paired with a bezel inlaid with blue sapphires). Cartier found a very similar shade of blue for its new yellow-gold Santos-Dumont, using dumortierite not for the dial, but for the Roman numerals – a piece of audacious craft that has to be seen to be appreciated. It is one of a trio of references, the others using jasper and jade alongside rose gold and platinum respectively.

Roger Dubuis decorated the Excalibur Blacklight Spin-Stone with blue and purple synthetic sapphires, while Hermès showed the 38mm Arceau de Petite Lune, which used aventurine, mother-of-pearl, aragonite and opal to display an astronomical scene, the whole thing ringed by diamonds. In years gone by, it would have been pigeonholed as a ladies’ watch, but not today.

The same could be said of Jaeger-LeCoultre’s incredible Reverso One Precious Stones, a pair of designs that merged hand-enamelling and gem-setting in an Art Deco-inspired geometrical pattern. The execution of each is flawless, and all the more impressive when you appreciate the pattern wraps around the curved case of the watch.